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Procedure price report · Ophthalmologic and otologic diagnosis and treatment

Warm and cool ear canal balance test, one ear, recorded

CPT 92538the billing code this page is about

Warm and cool irrigations are placed in one ear while eye movements are recorded; this code covers the two irrigations of a single ear.

Hospitals typically charge $244 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 625 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $247. Most fall between $75 and $466 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
625
States
48
Filings dated
Mar 2025 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 25, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 625 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$29$86$244$407$844

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 30× what the cheapest tenth charges ($29 vs $844).

How the prices are spread

$17 – $25: 31 hospitals$17$25 – $39: 21 hospitals$39 – $59: 31 hospitals$39$59 – $91: 52 hospitals$91 – $139: 45 hospitals$91$139 – $213: 82 hospitals$213 – $325: 109 hospitals$213$325 – $497: 114 hospitals$497 – $761: 40 hospitals$497$761 – $1,164: 49 hospitals$761median $244price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (574 of 625 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$17$2531
$25$3921
$39$5931
$59$9152
$91$13945
$139$21382
$213$325109
$325$497114
$497$76140
$761$1,16449

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$221
Median cash price$244
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.10×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $244.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $137 across 13 hospitalsMN$137Illinois: median $310 across 25 hospitalsIL$310Wisconsin: median $75 across 38 hospitalsWI$75Michigan: median $297 across 45 hospitalsMI$297New York: median $185 across 35 hospitalsNY$185Massachusetts: median $386 across 12 hospitalsMA$386Oregon: median $267 across 14 hospitalsOR$267Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $14 across 15 hospitalsIA$14Indiana: median $76 across 28 hospitalsIN$76Ohio: median $407 across 48 hospitalsOH$407Pennsylvania: median $245 across 36 hospitalsPA$245New Jersey: median $173 across 35 hospitalsNJ$173Connecticut: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,080 across 44 hospitalsCA$1,080Utah: median $360 across 13 hospitalsUT$360Colorado: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $296 across 17 hospitalsVA$296Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $299 across 16 hospitalsAZ$299New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $82 across 20 hospitalsNC$82South Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: median $308 across 11 hospitalsLA$308Mississippi: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $385 across 17 hospitalsGA$385Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $560 across 26 hospitalsTX$560Florida: median $446 across 15 hospitalsFL$446
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $244. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA44$1,080+343%$186 – $1,288
Texas TX26$560+130%$125 – $621
Florida FL15$446+83%$97 – $591
Ohio OH48$407+67%$277 – $466
Massachusetts MA12$386+58%$311 – $482
Georgia GA17$385+58%$313 – $806
Utah UT13$360+48%$360 – $360
Illinois IL25$310+27%$156 – $411
Louisiana LA11$308+26%$160 – $380
Arizona AZ16$299+23%$195 – $844
Michigan MI45$297+22%$17 – $917
Virginia VA17$296+21%$218 – $946
Oregon OR14$267+10%$42 – $333
Pennsylvania PA36$245+1%$134 – $320
New York NY35$185−24%$137 – $603
New Jersey NJ35$173−29%$93 – $293
Minnesota MN13$137−44%$51 – $137
North Carolina NC20$82−66%$82 – $228
Indiana IN28$76−69%$44 – $257
Wisconsin WI38$75−69%$29 – $162
Iowa IA15$14−94%$14 – $28
Missouri MO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $244.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care528$259$82 – $509
Children’s19fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access75$75$24 – $360
Ownership
For-profit37$337$125 – $656
Government69$185$82 – $391
Non-profit516$244$75 – $466
System affiliation
Part of a system547$250$75 – $471
Independent78$186$63 – $411

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$437
Median cash price$244
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

461 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $296 and the average of the middle 60% is $293; most fall between $84 and $560.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 461 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$44$125$296$466$923

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 21× what the cheapest tenth charges ($44 vs $923).

Of the 503 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 461 gave a usable cash price; 34 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 8 a list price only.

How complete is this

625 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (16%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 667 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted625
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here37
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded5
Hospitals that filed this code667

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between September 4, 2026 and September 25, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 25, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Ophthalmologic and otologic diagnosis and treatment family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Caloric Vestibular Test W/Rec Bi Monothermal|TECHNICAL COMPONENT.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Warm and cool ear canal balance test, one ear, recorded (CPT 92538) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-92538-warm-and-cool-ear-canal-balance-test-one-ear-recorded